Engineering Chemistry Theory

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 Text Books
• TEXT BOOKS
1) M. Arif, A. Fernandez, K. P. Nair, Engineering Chemistry, Second edition, Owl Books,2019.
2) S. Chawla, A text book of Engineering Chemistry, second edition, Dhanpat Rai & Co. 2013.
3) Roy Varghese, Engineering Chemistry, Second Edition (2019)

OTHER REFERENCES
1) C. N. Banwell, E. M. Mc Cash, Fundamentals of Molecular Spectroscopy, McGraw-Hill, 4th edition, 2001. ISBN: 9780074620250
2) , H. H. Willard, L. L. Merritt,Instrumental Methods of Analysis, CBS Publishers, 7th edition, 2005. ISBN: 9788123909431
3) A. J. Peacock, A. Calhoun, C. Hanser, Polymer Chemistry: Properties and Application, Verlag GmbH & Company KG, 2012. ISBN:
9783446433434
4) C. Binns, Introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Wiley, 2010. ISBN:9780471776475

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 Basics
• Electrochemistry deals with electrochemical reactions
and its industrial applications.
• It is an important topic in Eng. Chemistry

• Applications: Most of our consumer electronics

appliances use cells; used to prevent metal corrosion,
eg. in ships; used in electroplating, in medical field (eg. a
modern glucometer strip is nothing but a tiny
electrochemical cell which produces current with
respect to the glucose level in the blood sample)

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 Coulomb
• 1 Coulomb = 6.24 × 1018 Electrons

• Reciprocally,
1 electron charge = 1.60217 × 10-19 C

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• In Electrochemistry we dealt with DC current in
general

• 1 Volt = 1 EMF = the SI unit of electromotive force,

the difference of potential that would carry one
ampere of current against one ohm resistance.
• Another Definition :
V = J/C : How do you define it ?
• A = C/ S (Ampere)

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 Electrolytic and Electrochemical cell

Just look at the above figs.

In the first one, electrical energy is PASSED through the cell; which eventually gives a
chemical reaction and that type of cell is called electrolytic cell.

In the second one electrical energy is PRODUCED (see the following slides) It is also
known as Galvanic/Electrochemical cell 7
In the case of electrochemical cell, in Anode Oxidation takes place and it is
represented by: -ve sign

And in Cathode, Reduction takes place and it is represented by +ve.

Note that your syllabus covers only Electrochemical cells

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 Daniell Cell
• It is still used as a prototype in
electrochemistry
• It produces a voltage of 1.1 volt at 25 degree
Celsius if we use 1 Molar ZnSO4 and 1Molar
CuSO4 solutions
• It is a reversible cell

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 Construction of a Daniell Cell
• It is very simple; place a Zn rod in 1M ZnSO4
and one Cu rod in 1 M CuSO4 solutions as
shown in the figure

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• The following reactions will takes place:

It means Zn rod will be decayed; So the mass of the zinc

rod become decreased. In other words Zn become
ANODE (oxidation takes place)

Cu become CATHODE (reduction takes place). Cu rod will

increases its mass.

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 Overall reaction of Daniell cell is

Note that in Electrochemistry Oxidation half cell is ALWAYS written in LHS

and the reduction half cell is written in RHS:

And its CELL REPRESENTATION is SALT BRIDGE

Anode Half cell; it depicts that the Zn Cathode Half cell; it depicts that the
metal is oxidized into Zn2+ Cu ion is get Reduced into Cu metal.
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 Ecell of Daniell Cell
• E0cell = E0cathode – E0anode

= E0Cu - E0Zn

The Superscript 0 denotes the reaction takes place at 25C

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 Salt Bridge
• The purpose of the salt bridge is purely to
complete the electrical circuit and allow the
cell to function ; it also prevent mixing of the
ions in each compartments
• It is made by mixing eg. NaCl and NaNO3 in
agar-agar gel.

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 Reversible Cell
We have seen that, the Daniel cell has an EMF of 1.1 volt.
and It is represented as Zn(s)/Zn2+(aq)//Cu2+(aq)/Cu(s).

A cell which obey the following 2 conditions is called A Reversible cell.

• ( 1) If the Daniell cell is connected to an external source of EMF equal to 1.1 volt, no
current flows and also no chemical reaction takes place in the cell. Note that the
EMF source should connected with opposite polarity (see the next slide).

• (2) If the external EMF is made slightly greater than 1.1 volt, the current will flow in
the opposite direction.
In other words, at this condition, Zn half cell became Cathode and Cu half cell became
Anode.

Daniell cell is a Reversible Cell

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The First condition.

Here an 1.1 V with opposite polarity is connected to the Daniell Cell. So The
voltage cancels out and produces 0 Volt.
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The Second condition.

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